Most Memorable Quotes from CP Expo 2023
Who said it? Turns out, a lot of big names at CP Expo, influencing suppliers and partners alike.
May 5, 2023
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During a keynote in which channel thought leaders detailed pivoting and scaling amid a time of flux, Lucas Salvage (second from right), chief revenue officer and partner of Kairos Data Communications, said it’s an excellent time for hiring because suppliers are getting rid of people.
“Find out who’s moving and who’s shaking, and what suppliers are getting rid of great people because we have seen incredible assets being released,” he said. “The supplier community is doing us a favor because I think what we’re seeing is go fire these people that are incredible folks because we will certainly gobble them up and create more of a strategic brand and a strategic organization.”
Len DiCostanzo (left), CEO of MSP Toolkit, took charge as moderator of the “MSP Mentor: Accelerate Your MSP” workshop. He led more than a dozen MSP experts who shared tips and strategies in various sessions on how to build and manage a sales pipeline, close more deals, master finances and identify the next-gen platforms that are right for your business.
When it comes to strengthening financials, Larry Cobrin (second from left), founder and CEO of MSP CFO, told the crowd to “look at what you can do to drive the bottom line. The answer is different for every MSP.”
Neil Medwed (center) has overseen 11 acquisitions in about two years as vice president of corporate development and M&A at Meriplex. As a panelist at the MSP Mentor workshop, he said he targets companies for acquisition that are growing revenue and profit in a variety of areas.
“An organization can have lots of top-line revenue, but what’s flowing to the bottom? How much is recurring revenue, professional services, product revenue, Office 365 Azure versus something else? We really analyze numbers. We’re looking for organizations that can successfully manage their employee account. There are a lot of bloated companies out there that have way too many employees for what their actual needs are.”
Despite the growth of many MSPs, Peter Kujawa (second from right), vice president of Service Leadership, a ConnectWise solution, is surprised by the amount of MSPs he benchmarks in the company’s quarterly reports that lose money. Understanding data is a major driver of sales growth and profitability.
“You can make really good money in this industry; there is a model for it that works,” he said. “Your service gross margin is where most of your expenses are: the cost of your service team, your employees, your tools. It’s about pricing and packaging and how you go to market. Pay really close attention to the size of your team, your efficiency, what you’re paying your people. All of those things make a huge difference. It’s the single most important metric that we advise an MSPs to start with to improve their profitability.”
Also taking part in the MSP Mentor workshop was Lori Tisinai, president of Computer Concepts USA.
Deploying a professional services automation platform isn’t always easy for MSPs, she said, after she was asked about her views on PSA at the workshop.
“I’m looking for a platform in the future that’s going to have a lot of different features already integrated and working together so that I don’t have to buy another product, pay another vendor, add another monthly fee.”
During his keynote at the conference, retired record-setting astronaut Capt. Scott Kelly tried to convey to the audience the sensation of going into orbit.
“It feels like the hand of God is lifting you off the launch pad and throwing you into space.”
Kelly connected some of his lessons learned in space to things attendees can do to improve themselves and their businesses when they return home from the conference.
Eric Townsend, a technology consultant for Dell Expert Network, urged the audience during his keynote to focus on MAD technologies, security and automation as three ways to grow business.
“Understand how your machines are going to work together, how you add intelligence to them, and what data you’re actually capturing.”
During his keynote, ThreatLocker co-founder and CEO Danny Jenkins detailed how he tested his employees to see if they would download something they shouldn’t, and the result was disappointing.
“Now we are a cybersecurity company,” he said. “We do training every single month. We have engineers, we have controls, everything.”
Yet, when Jenkins launched an attack to see how many employees would respond correctly, one-third of them took the bait.
“And some of these guys were engineers who were smart people,” he said. “They just thought, ‘Oh, Danny asked me to run this. It must be important.’ The reality is it didn’t run anyway.”
The “MSP M&A Superstars” panel continuously hit on the same point: that the sale of an MSP should start on day one of the company’s existence.
People involved in the M&A process, including advisors, legal counsel and actual buyers, encouraged MSPs to get their governing documents and agreements in order.
“Run your business as though you’ll never sell,” said Tim Mueller, president of martinwolf. “Invest in that back end. Invest in solid principles and core values. But at the same time, run as though you’re always gonna be for sale.”
Read our panel recap.
The Cable VIP Reception was much more than just an opportunity to network. There were some massive wins to celebrate.
For example, the newly launched 3DG Partners technology advisor firm landed a huge deal that its partners Avant and Comcast Business say is the largest in the history of the agent channel. And other partners shared sentiments that they see enterprise customers as more open to working with partners – particularly those in the advisor model – than ever.
“We’re excited to see this next generation of [technology advisors] continue to go up-market,” Avant chief strategy officer Chris Werpy told Channel Futures. “You’re not punching above your weight class anymore. The TA movement is very real and people understand. So you’re able to get in those accounts and get wins like that.
Read our Cable Party recap.
If you ask partners if vendors are becoming more channel-friendly, the answer will vary significantly. In some instances, partners report the economic downturn is pressuring direct sales teams into competing more with partners for formerly joint customers. However, other vendors are publicly expanding their partner programs with an emphasis on appealing to a variety of partner models.
“We’re doing a lot more [channel integration] now than we’ve ever done in history. And it’s proving to be very successful. It’s a good thing when the channel is no longer viewed as the competitor or the enemy. The channel is viewed as an ally, and a new way to go to market that adds value so that the both parties can win,” Craig Schlagbaum, senior vice president of indirect channels at Comcast Business (pictured above), told Channel Futures at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo.
In addition, Channel Futures heard the sentiment from providers in the connectivity space that they’re eager to join with providers of other technologies on a partner-led deal. In other words, a technology advisor (agent) can bring a company like Comcast or Verizon into a customer account that it first landed by selling unified communications as a service (UCaaS).
And that’s due in part to the fact that partners are selling a more diverse portfolio than ever. Michael Caralis, vice president of business markets for Verizon Business, pointed to a business agent who has significantly evolved their set of offerings.
“A few years ago, the majority of their revenue was telco. Now it’s only 50%, because they’re selling SaaS. They’re selling managed services. They’re selling all those other services on top of that, and that’s the ability channel has to really differentiate. It’s not just traditional but what you’re selling on top of that,” Caralis told Channel Futures.
And MSPs and VARs provide managed and professional services that complement a vendor.
“We have a huge sales force on the direct side, but we can’t get to every market and every customer, and there’s tremendous relationships within the [technology advisor] channel with customers, and a lot of times the MSPs and the VARs take our products and turn them into reality as they deliver them to the customer. Sometimes we have those core capabilities at Verizon, but the channel helps us scale to deliver great experiences to our customers,” Caralis said.
A panel of Channel Futures’ 2023 Channel Influencers took the stage to discuss several topics regarding leadership, including what they would tell young people who would like to have a career in the channel.
Ryan Walsh, chief strategy officer at Pax8, said: “If I’m talking to someone young, [I tell them] you get to learn about this business, go to market and that the technology is complex,” Walsh said. “The journey only just begins when you sell something.”
Partners having been hearing a lot of pitches about 5G for the last few years. The technology no doubt shows promise, with fixed wireless access emerging as a viable replacement for wireline services in rural and even suburban environments. However, technology advisors, who center their business around a residual commission model, have long expressed their financial reticence to make investments in mobility. But John DeLozier (pictured above), president of Intelisys and ScanSource’s president of modern communications and cloud services, said increased compensation from vendors is going to drive adoption.
“Traditionally there hasn’t been money there, with commissions, etc,” DeLozier told Channel Futures in an interview at CP Expo. “But now suppliers have seen the light of the channel. So we’re seeing a lot of a lot of opportunity.”
While ScanSource and Intelisys’ hybrid distribution strategy has brought many partners from the VAR world into agent-styled UCaaS and CCaaS sales, the same strategy has seen agents get in on more mobility offerings, which require both a SIM card and connectivity. Several established advisor firms have made investments in their mobility practice, including Renodis. DeLozier also pointed to D&M Enterprise Group and Amplix as partners that have also leaned into mobility.
In the conference session, “People Buy from People: Humanizing Your Brand Through LinkedIn,” panelists discussed their approach to tackling information they post on the social media site.
MeiLee Langley (second from left), VP of global marketing at Xcitium, said she thinks it’s important to represent yourself online the same way you represent yourself in person. This is critical for people to trust you, she said.
“I lean on the common thread, which is me,” she added.
In the same session, Travis Curnutte (second from right), director of marketing and strategy at Volli Communications, said differentiating his business online on platforms like LinkedIn means not having a conversation about the product itself but rather about the individuals who created it.
“There are similar products out there,” Curnutte said. “I want you to buy because of the people behind the product.”
Ron Lovern (left), executive VP at MSP Triton Networks, moderated a keynote on the “Workforce of Tomorrow.”
“This is the first time there are five generations in the industry,” he said, noting how more baby boomers are hanging around and how Gen-Z is entering the workforce in droves.
Different generations have different expectations from their employers, the panel pointed out.
“Being perfect is replaceable. Being unique and different is irreplaceable,” said Dr. Merritt Moore (inset), keynoter at the Alliance of Channel Women’s ACWConnect Live program and networking event.
She talked about what she went through in simultaneously pursuing careers in quantum physics and ballet, which she did successfully. We heard various versions of “be authentic” and “you are the major element of whatever you’re selling” throughout CP Expo this yeaer. Maybe having been in lockdown for so long, people have come to fully appreciate the importance of the human element.
Next-generation technologies like AI came up constantly at Channel Partners. And the conversations partners navigate with customers take on at least two different angles. On one hand, many businesses want to use technology to become more efficient and customer-focused. But at the same time, they’re struggling with technology sprawl and justifying their budgets.
“We’re seeing nearly every organization deal with a little hangover of the digital acceleration of 2020-2022,” CXponent CEO Joe Rice told Channel Futures at the event. “Business units and functions, including IT, bought a lot of tools and point solutions for a lot of reasons, resulting in software stack sprawl. Too many tools drives poor employee experiences, significant extra cost, underutilized capabilities, and cumbersome administration and reporting. Most organizations are trying to find ways to consolidate platforms to drive lower costs and reduce operating complexity. The security and network stack and contact center tech stack are areas that have a lot of opportunity for clean-up.”
But those same customers show willingness to make forward-looking investments after that clean-up.
“There still seems to be a willingness to invest in projects that can generate clear and certain business value, but the bar is higher, and I expect the accountability to committing to business cases is also much higher,” Rice said. “There’s clearly a lot of interest in the application of AI. OpenAI and ChatGPT has made it a lot easier to understand how powerful AI can be, especially to non-technical executives. I think many organizations are scrambling to have a good story and strategy around making at least some progress there. The contact center space certainly has a lot of practical applications for that which should be great for our channel.”
Next-generation technologies like AI came up constantly at Channel Partners. And the conversations partners navigate with customers take on at least two different angles. On one hand, many businesses want to use technology to become more efficient and customer-focused. But at the same time, they’re struggling with technology sprawl and justifying their budgets.
“We’re seeing nearly every organization deal with a little hangover of the digital acceleration of 2020-2022,” CXponent CEO Joe Rice told Channel Futures at the event. “Business units and functions, including IT, bought a lot of tools and point solutions for a lot of reasons, resulting in software stack sprawl. Too many tools drives poor employee experiences, significant extra cost, underutilized capabilities, and cumbersome administration and reporting. Most organizations are trying to find ways to consolidate platforms to drive lower costs and reduce operating complexity. The security and network stack and contact center tech stack are areas that have a lot of opportunity for clean-up.”
But those same customers show willingness to make forward-looking investments after that clean-up.
“There still seems to be a willingness to invest in projects that can generate clear and certain business value, but the bar is higher, and I expect the accountability to committing to business cases is also much higher,” Rice said. “There’s clearly a lot of interest in the application of AI. OpenAI and ChatGPT has made it a lot easier to understand how powerful AI can be, especially to non-technical executives. I think many organizations are scrambling to have a good story and strategy around making at least some progress there. The contact center space certainly has a lot of practical applications for that which should be great for our channel.”
The Channel Partners Conference & Expo shattered another attendance record, and some of the partners and vendor reps onsite provided Channel Futures with a handful of most memorable quotes from the world’s largest independent channel event.
But let’s start with the numbers: more than 8,000 attendees. That’s right — 8,000. That beat the old record of 7,400, set just last year. We were up nearly 20% coming out of COVID, and that number kept growing in 2023. A surge in managed service providers (MSPs) participating in the event has been a big reason why, but the strength of technology advisors (agents) coming to Channel Partners is stronger than ever as well.
We also set a record for sponsors and exhibitors, with approximately 350. That was probably obvious to anyone who stepped inside the expo hall, which was packed on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons with suppliers and partners meeting, building relationships and setting up deals.
Some of the show’s highlights included a panel on how to prepare your business for a sale; a two-hour MSP workshop featuring advice from some of the biggest names in the industry; a motivational keynote from retired astronaut Capt. Scott Kelly; and a state of the agent market report from tech advisors themselves.
See our slideshow above for some of the most memorable quotes, both on stage and behind the scenes, at CP Expo.
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